William Schafer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Schafer
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| Born |
William Ronald Schafer
August 29, 1964 |
| Nationality | American, British |
| Education | Lakeside High School, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (AB Biology, 1986); University of California, Berkeley (PhD Biochemistry, 1991) |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Protein prenylation in saccharomyces cervesiae' (1990) |
| Doctoral advisor | Jasper Rine |
William Ronald Schafer, born on August 29, 1964, is a famous American-British scientist. He is a neuroscientist and a geneticist. This means he studies the brain and nervous system, and also how traits are passed down through genes.
Dr. Schafer has made big discoveries about how our brains and genes control behavior. He mainly studies a tiny worm called C. elegans. He uses many different science tools to figure out how small groups of neurons (brain cells) make the worm act the way it does.
He also helped create new ways to study the brain. These include using light to see brain activity (called optogenetic neuroimaging). He also developed automated systems to watch and measure how animals behave. These methods are now used by many other brain scientists.
Dr. Schafer has learned a lot about how our senses work. He studied special proteins called ionotropic receptors that help us sense things. He also found out how gap junctions (tiny connections between cells) and other brain signals affect how neurons work together. More recently, he has used ideas from network science to understand how brain connections work. He wants to find basic rules that apply to bigger brains, like ours. He is a member of the EMBO and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Contents
William Schafer's Career Journey
Early Studies and Discoveries
William Schafer studied genetics and biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. His teacher there was Jasper Rine. During his PhD studies, he found out that certain proteins in yeast (a type of fungus) need a special chemical tag. This tag helps them go to the right place in the cell and work properly.
After his PhD, he worked with Cynthia Kenyon. He discovered that a chemical called dopamine can slow down how the C. elegans worm moves. He also found the first gene change in a worm that affected how it reacted to dopamine.
In 1995, he became a professor at the University of California, San Diego. In 2001, he received a special award called the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. This award is given to young scientists who show great promise.
Moving to the UK
After taking a break in 2004–2005, Dr. Schafer moved his research team. In 2006, they went to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. This is a very famous place for science research. In 2020, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a big honor for scientists in the UK.
In 2019, he also became a part-time professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
Dr. Schafer's Amazing Research
Seeing Brain Activity with Light
Scientists developed special tools called genetically encoded calcium indicators in 1997. These tools let scientists see when brain cells are active. In 2000, Dr. Schafer and his student Rex Kerr showed how to use one of these tools in worms. They could record activity in the worm's muscles and single brain cells.
This was the first time an "optogenetic sensor" was used to watch brain activity in a living animal. Using this method, Dr. Schafer's team has studied many different brain cells in the worm. They looked at cells that sense touch, chemicals, and pain. They found that certain molecules, like TMCs, help these cells sense things. His group also found out how TMC channels, which are important for hearing in humans, work.
Watching Worms Automatically
Dr. Schafer's team also created new ways to study animal behavior using computers. They used special cameras and computer programs to watch C. elegans worms for many hours. This allowed them to measure things like when the worms laid eggs. These experiments showed that worms change their behavior based on a chemical called serotonin.
Later, they used even better worm trackers. These trackers could collect a lot of information about how worms move. This method has been very helpful for understanding how genes affect the nervous system and behavior.
Mapping the Brain's Connections
Dr. Schafer has also worked with other scientists to study the "connectome" of C. elegans. The connectome is like a map of all the connections between brain cells. He realized that some brain signals, called neuromodulators, work differently. They don't just connect directly. They form a "wireless" network that works alongside the main wired connections.
In 2023, his lab published the first map of these "wireless" connections in C. elegans. This was the first time such a map was made for any living thing. His group also worked with another team to test if math ideas could predict how the brain works based on its connections.
